Put focus on boys’ education

Wednesday

Mar 6, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Alex Zequeira

This past fall, I became increasingly disappointed that education never seemed to become a major issue in national or regional elections. Recent attempts to address the growing concern that our students may not be equipped to compete in the global economy of a shrinking world have led to the No Child Left Behind Act and the Race to the Top program.

While both are well-intentioned initiatives, I agree with the assessment of many that they have fallen short of their intended goals and have incorrectly, and unfortunately, shifted the focus of education to tests and test taking.

Over the last few months, however, I have seen education coming to the forefront of our local and regional news. Lawrence and Fall River public schools will join a federal program to extend the school day for over 5,000 students. The governor’s new education plan includes a focus on early education and extending the school day in high-need schools.

The possibility of an exam school here in Worcester has been debated in the pages of the Telegram & Gazette. However, I do continue to be concerned, as there is one issue not being addressed — the education of our male students, and, more specifically, our male students of color.

We need to transform our educational system, created for a way of life and economy that no longer exists, to meet the needs of the 21st century, where college readiness and college access are becoming a necessity.

According to Complete College America, by 2020 more than 70 percent of all new jobs created will require a career certificate or college degree. Unemployment rates are twice as high for those who did not complete college. The United States Census reports that the average yearly earnings of an individual with a college degree are nearly three times greater than those of a high school dropout.

In addition, research shows a dramatic increase in life expectancy is correlated with an individual’s level of education. Therefore, if earning a college degree places an individual in a better position to get a job, keep a job, and improve his or her quality of life through higher earning potential and a longer life, then our nation and our educational system is placing all of its male students, especially black and Latino male students, at risk.

Consider these statistics:

•Nationally, only 28 percent of young African American men and 16 percent of young Latino men have obtained an associate’s degree or higher.

•If you are an African American boy today, you are more likely to drop out of high school than graduate, and if you didn’t finish high school, you are more likely to be unemployed than have a job.

•If you are an African-American male high school dropout in your late 20s, you are more likely to be in prison on a given day (34 percent) than working (30 percent).

•Economist Andrew M. Sum and his colleagues at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University examined the Boston Public Schools and found that for the graduating class of 2007, there were 191 black girls for every 100 boys going on to attend a four-year college or university. Among Hispanics, the ratio was 175 girls for every 100 boys.

Not reflected in these statistics is the added dimension that poverty, an unfortunate reality for many students of color, plays in the college enrollment and achievement gaps.

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center estimates that 72 percent of students in Worcester live in poverty. I witness this challenge every day serving as the head of Nativity School of Worcester, a tuition-free, private, Jesuit middle school for boys where 100 percent of the students admitted qualify for the federal free or reduced breakfast/lunch program, placing them at or below the poverty line.

We are a school where over 85 percent of our current students and graduates, still served through our Graduate Support Program, are students of color, and yet, over the course of our ten-year history, 100 percent of our graduates were accepted and received adequate financial aid to attend a private high school and nearly 90 percent have gone on to a post-secondary program (83 percent to a four-year college).

Although the quest for a college degree and a financially secure future is challenging, it can be achieved.

We need to continue this dialogue on education in order to strengthen our educational system and to expand school choice for all students and their families.

It is also time to act. Our goal should be to provide the best quality educational experience for all of our students, but it is clear that for our male students the educational system, in its current form, is failing.

Allocating resources and placing attention on the research currently available on educating boys, especially how they best learn, will serve us well. It is time to stop leaving boys behind.